The Healing Touch
by White Wolf Writers
Summary: What do you get when you cross an angry and wounded Fire Nation Prince with a temperamental Master Healer with a strong hate for people? Bruises, laughs and even more bruises. After a near-fatal fall off a cliff, Zuko and Iroh travel to a nearby village for help from a powerful healer with a less-than-hidden secret and a talkative assistant. ZukoXOC
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there, Reader! This is my first attempt at an 'Avatar the last Airbender' fan fiction. Hopefully, you'll like it. If not, there's plenty other good ones in the Archives somewhere. **

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own 'Avatar, the Last Airbender' in any way, shape or form. If I did, Zuko and Katara would be made a couple whether they'd like it or not. I SHIP ZUTARA! *Mwahahaha!**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

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"Zuko! I think we should stop for the night!" his uncle called over the roaring wind that tore through the forest as heavy rain pelted the two travelers.

"No! We've already lost enough time resting at that town you had to look through!" Zuko yelled angrily over the wind. He was already in a bad mood trying to find the Avatar and the weather wasn't doing anything to help. It had been a beautiful sunny day up till a few hours ago.

Zuko slipped in the mud and cursed heavily. His uncle waded through the brown muck towards his nephew and offered him a hand up. Zuko reluctantly took it and struggled to his feet.

"I really think we should find shelter!" Iroh insisted again. Zuko opened his mouth to argue but a flash of lightning and booming thunder shut him up. He growled but the storm seemed to swallow all sound except its own.

"Alright! Where do you suggest we go? Everything's wet and it's too dark to see our hands in front of our faces!" he yelled over the screaming wind that threatened to push him over.

"I'm not sure but there should be a village around here!" Iroh yelled, struggling to keep a flame lit in his hands for light. Zuko struggled with his flame as well but the storm seemed determined to kill his little fire.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Zuko spotted a little blue-ish light through the trees. It was so tiny, Zuko doubted he actually saw anything till he saw it again and again, flickering through the trees.

"Uncle! Over there!" Zuko started through the trees towards the light. Iroh squinted through the trees and spotted what his nephew had seen. It was a will-o-wisp, notoriously famous for leading travelers into swamps and bogs; leading them to death's door.

"Zuko! Wait! That's a-" Iroh was cut off as Zuko's scream pierced through the storm. He rushed forward to where he'd heard his beloved nephew scream and barely stopped himself from tumbling over the side of the cliff. At the bottom, arm and leg bent at an awkward angle, laid his nephew in a crumbled heap on the canyon floor.

"Zuko!" Iroh's panicked yell was swallowed by the storm raging above him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Yo! I'm Back with another chapter! Yay! Anyway, i know it's been a long time since I last updated but I have been trying to lengthen my chapters to something more...filling. This of course will also lengthen the amount of time I work on them, but I think that so far it's working out nicely for me. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar The Last Airbender.**

**Enjoy!**

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"-eah,….so whe-…-ell from tha-…-ure, no problem…" the muffled sound of voices broke through the black silence. Zuko felt numb, from his head right down to his toes.

"-ooks like he's-…. –o can yo-…-e?" the muffled sounds grew steadily clearer. Zuko felt someone brush something wet and cool from his forehead. A cold rag?

"Ugh," he moaned as he began doing a full-body check. He felt sore all over and his right arm and left leg burned like lava coursed through his veins.

"-ee?...-Lee? Nephew can you hear me?" Uncle Iroh's voice came through loud and clear. Lee? Who was tha- oh yeah, Lee was his cover name. Zuko opened his eyes only to shut them instantly at the blinding light.

"Ugh…w-what happened?" he croaked weakly. He despised how weak he sounded. Iroh was bent over him fussing over the cold rag he pressed to Zuko's head.

"You fell off Diver's Cliff, that's what happened," a third voice commented lightly. Zuko shot up only to cringe in pain as he put weight on his injured arm. His uncle forced him to lie down but Zuko had to know who the stranger was. They were in an ostrich-horse drawn-carriage and a young man, no more than twenty years old was driving. He was a simple looking man, brown hair pulled back into a short ponytail with matching brown eyes. A sad excuse of a mustache sat on his upper lip and he wore simple, green merchant's clothes. Must be from the Earth Kingdom. The man smiled at Zuko and offered him a water-skin which Uncle helped him with.

"The name's Edka. You're uncle told me what happened. Hard stuff man, hard stuff. You're lucky to be alive," Edka shrugged. Iroh turned and sat next to Zuko who was now sitting up and drinking the heaven-sent water Edka had offered with his one good arm. His right arm was clearly broken and he would have to see a healer to take care of it. Same with his leg that ached and burned every time they went over a bump or a rock. Yeah, a healer would do nicely. Patch him up quick and then he and his uncle would be on their way to continue Zuko's mission to capture the damned Avatar. As soon as possible if he had anything to say about it.

"So Edka," Zuko started, pleased that his voice didn't crack like it had before, "Do you know where the nearest healer is?"

Edka smiled and nodded.

"Yep! We're going there now actually. My village isn't that far from here and our healer's the best you can find anywhere in the four nations!" he bragged happily and leaned in towards Iroh and whispered, "And she just can't get enough of me! Aw you should have seen the way she coddled me before I left! Begging me to come back soon and all that! She's just so cute!" Edka blushed and stared off into the distance. Zuko took another deep gulp from the water-skin and tried ignoring their driver's gushing talk of the love-struck healer. Iroh joined in the conversation and the two of them continued to chat the rest of the way to the village Edka talked about.

While they told their tales of women and travels, Zuko went over his body again. He ached all over and his broken limbs sent waves upon waves of pain up his arm and leg if he so much as twitched a muscle. But other than that he was fine. Severely bruised and sore, but not dead, which was always a plus in his book.

"Hey Edka? What's 'Diver's Cliff'?" Zuko dared to ask the man brown-haired man who turned in his seat.

"Diver's Cliff is haunted," Edka stated flatly, "They say that a long time ago, a young couple threw themselves over the cliff because they weren't allowed to marry. Ever since then, will-o-wisps have been luring people over the edge of the cliff. Most people don't make it, so I'll say it again; you're lucky to be alive," Edka finished and turned his attention back on the road and dove back into the conversation with Zuko's uncle.

Will-o-wisps! Why hadn't he thought of that before?! That would explain the _blue_ light! No one could make blue fire! Well except maybe for his crazy sister, Azula. But he highly doubted she'd be all the way out here just to lead him off a cliff. She'd much rather just burn him to a crisp. Edka continued prattling on about his girl with Iroh.

"And her assistant is just so adorable! Hey Lee! If you're interested, I could introduce to my sweetheart's assistant! She's just a doll! She'd be perfect for a man like you! Has a scar almost like yours!"

The man rattled on, oblivious to the way Iroh tensed slightly and the stiffening of Zuko's shoulders. He winced and gasped as a fresh wave of pain radiated from his arm. Zuko couldn't help it. No matter how many times it was brought up into a conversation, no matter how much he wanted to ignore the jibes and jests thrown his way, anything about his scar set him on high alert. And on top of that, it hurt! His arm burned like hell-fire and there wasn't anything he could do about it except sit tight and wait till they reached the village Edka was talking about. Soon.

"Hey Edka!" Zuko groaned after about half an hour. It felt like hours the way the carriage picked up on each and every bump in the road, jostling his broken arm and leg, sending new waves of pain up his body.

"Hm? What is it, Lee?" the man barely turned in his seat to look at the scowling boy. Zuko allowed his frown to deepen at the way this man acted. I mean sure, Zuko wasn't royalty anymore and was wanted all over the four nations, but JEEZE LOUISE! Couldn't the guy at least try to hurry him to the healer he was gushing so much about earlier?!

"When will we get to the village?" he growled, keeping his inner thoughts buried in his head. Thoughts were swimming about, whispering ideas into his ears. Ideas like _'Knock the guy off the carriage, steal the carriage and drive to the dammed village yourself!'_ were most common. He shook the appealing thoughts from his head as Edka answered.

"Well we're here now actually. Right at the gate anyway," his smile turned into a knowing grin, "I know what's up with you! You can't wait to meet Kanna, huh? After all, she is a pure jewel out here in the wilderness!" he gushed, "And she told me she'd stay here, just for me!" he gave Zuko a thumbs-up and steered the carriage into the village.

Children ran screaming through the streets, chasing each other with sticks carved like swords. Women stood on the sides of the streets haggling with the street vendors for dinner that night. A few of the women caught sight of Edka, waved and called to him.

"Hey Edka! Back already?"

Edka smiled cheekily.

"Yup! Couldn't let Kanna grow lonely without me now could I?"

Zuko didn't miss the worried looks the women cast at Edka who waved cheerily to others he knew.

A girl darted through the crowd and hopped with ease into the back of the carriage and nearly tackled Edka to the ground from his perch.

"Edka! You're back!" the girl cried happily, squeezing her small arms around the man's middle. He smiled and pried her off of him. The petite girl wore faded green clothes, and patched brown pants that only descended down to her knees. Her shoulder length brown hair had multiple braids, ending with beautiful silver beads. But most surprisingly, a huge, scabbed burn that stretched from her jaw to the top of her left cheek, about two finger lengths away from her eye, marked her young face. All in all, it was about the size of Zuko's palm.

"Hey Rori. How have things been while I was gone?"

The girl, Rori, sat balanced on the edge of the carriage behind Edka and began chatting happily. About the games she'd played with her friends, the new water pool she'd discovered, the gypsies that stopped by to resupply, the silver hair beads she'd gotten from said gypsies, the new shrine that had finally been finished by the Great Tree, the stories the Village Elder had told, the campfire song and dance Edka had missed out on, everything! All while waving her arms around animatedly and with wide, exited green eyes. The girl then noticed the old man sitting next to Edka and the injured man lying down in the bottom of the carriage looking like he'd been brought through hell and back. Then she began questioning about the strange men Edka had brought back, whether the injured one was going to go see Kanna and how old was the old man. Was he older than the Village Elder? Did he know any good stories? The story of Oma and Shu was her favorite.

"Did you know I'm an earthbender?" she gasped as if she'd forgotten the most important thing in the world and she'd forgotten about it. Iroh laughed heartily and patted the girl on the head affectionately. Edka ruffled the girl's hair roughly, laughing along. Zuko wanted to groan. Man, that girl could talk!

"So Rori, are you gonna help Kanna with Lee over there?" When Rori looked around confusedly, Edka pointed to Zuko in the carriage. The girl exclaimed loudly in understanding and nodded her head furiously, braids and beads swinging around dangerously. Zuko blinked.

Wait, WHAT?! This little girl, Rori, was going to help heal him? She was the healer's assistant? As he recovered from his shock and horror, Rori tipped back a tad too far and fell out of the carriage with a cry. Edka stopped the carriage and Iroh jumped down to help the clumsy girl on her feet again. Zuko growled. There was _no_ way he was letting that klutzy girl anywhere near him.

"I'm fine Edka geez!" she laughed and plopped herself down across from Zuko, making sure to be careful in avoiding his broken leg. He reminded her of an injured Platypus-Bear, ready to strike anyone or anything that came too close. And she spared no moment in telling him so.

"So you're gonna go see Kanna?" she smiled. Zuko attempted glaring but the way the carriage jostled back into motion forced his expression to soften into one of pain.

"What do you think?" he asked sarcastically when the waves of pain retreated some. Either the sarcasm was lost on the girl or she ignored it because she dove right back into a very one-sided conversation with Zuko.

"Kanna'll fix you up 'right as rain' as she always says," Rori chirped, "Although I don't understand how rain can be right. Anyway, she came from the Northern Water Tribe where she was one of the best healers around, even without waterbending powers. Her favorite color is blue and…"

Zuko tuned out as Edka, Iroh, he and Rori rode the rest of the way to Kanna's house. Rori chatted away and Zuko felt the urge to burn his ears off. Great Agni, how could anyone _talk_ this much. He tried drowning out Rori to listen to the surrounding nature and its peaceful silence.

"-so when she took me in I just had to do something to make it up to her," Rori continued, completely and totally oblivious of Zuko ignoring her. Well, he was trying to at least.

"Shut up!" he yelled finally. There was only so much the poor injured man could take and he'd surprisingly held back until now. He would have been rather proud of himself if the yelling hadn't caused his muscles to tense up, creating a chain reaction that lead straight to his broken limps. They screamed in agony and Zuko clenched his teeth tightly together to keep from screaming aloud. Rori looked at him, eyes wide and mouth hanging open with words she'd never got to speak. Then she snapped it shut with a snap, took a deep breath and-

"You don't have to be so rude you know. You could have just asked me to be quiet. And now you've gone and hurt yourself some more! You know you really should take better care of yourself-" and she continued berating him for not properly taking care of himself and talking down to him as if he were a misbehaved child that had just broke a vase. Too exhausted to argue the point further, Zuko shifted as best he could to get more comfortable for the long ride. Little did he know that his uncle had watched the exchange quietly and was so very proud of his nephew. While he knew the young man was seething from the apparent 'loss' to the talkative Rori, he had taken the higher road without knowing and left the girl to talk with herself. And that, to say the least, made Iroh a very proud man. Edka had listened in on everything and smiled.

"Alright Lee, we're here!" the man called over his shoulder and if Zuko hadn't broken half of his body, he would have jumped out of the carriage and jumped and hollered with joy. He _never_ wanted to ride in another carriage again. Uncle came around the carriage to help him to his good leg and together they hobbled sadly up to Kanna's front door.

It was a quaint little place, wooden walls stood tall and straight supporting a partial wood and thatch roof. There was an opening about half-way up the wooden part of the roof, allowing some sunlight in. The house was strategically placed on the outskirts of the village with a fresh mountain stream rushing nearby. All the windows were closed and the curtains were drawn. There was no sound coming from within and Zuko wondered if Kanna was even in.

This however didn't stop Edka as he strode up the cobblestone path that was nearly overgrown with weeds and grasses as if he owned the place and knocked on the door.

"Hey Kanna? Sweetheart? It's me, Edka!" he called cheerily. There was a rustling from inside and a sleepy, ever so slightly pissed, 'What?' was heard.

Someone was still sleeping at this hour?! The thought nearly made his eyebrows disappear into the dark of his hair. True, not everyone was a firebender and rose with the sun, but still! He looked around at the sunlight that filtered through the thick green foliage of the trees above them and could hear the sounds of the villagers rushing about, bartering, chatting and living it up on such a beautiful, sunny day. It was High Noon for Agni's sake! Although it was hard to believe that yesterday it had seemed like the storm of the century.

More grumbling came from the house and something scraped across the floor. Something crashed and heavy cursing instantly followed. Finally the door swung open to reveal a person. Well, actually it looked more like a bedraggled Panther-Cat that had been left out in the rain and mud for too long. The woman, Kanna he assumed, leaned up against the doorframe yawning widely. Her traditional blue water tribe tunic with a pair of blue pants that stopped at her knees was ruffled, as if she'd slept in it. Her brown hair stuck out at odd angles and there were slight bags under her eyes. She blinked and focused on Edka who was standing on her porch smiling stupidly.

"So? Did you get it?" she asked plainly with the tiniest bit of annoyance.

Edka blinked, unsure of what to say and his smile widened into a nervous grin.

"Umm….Get what, my love?"

Zuko heard Rori sigh beside him as Kanna calmly stepped back into the house and slammed the door in Edka's face without a word. The man stood there where the woman had left him, gaping at the door with faded blue paint.

"Kanna! Sweetheart! What'd I do wrong this time?!" he pleaded with the door. He glanced over his shoulder to where Mushi (that was Iroh's cover name and he was sticking to it!) and Lee were standing. Well, Lee was standing as best as he could on one leg while his uncle held him up with his good arm. Edka grinned nervously, letting them know everything was fine, before turning back to the door.

There came another crashing sound from the house and Zuko had the feeling something had just broken. The door crashed open again and Kanna stormed out of the house waving a broom at Edka.

"'What did you do?' _What did you do?!_'" the woman screeched, smacking Edka in the side with her weapon, "Ed, you IDIOT! I gave half my life savings for those herbs that the market only ever has on sale _once a fuckin' year_!" the broom found it's way through Edka's defenses and bonked him on the side of the head. She was seething, waving her broom around madly, only caring about causing the man in front of her pain and lots of it.

"B-but sweetheart-" another whack.

"Don't you _dare_ call me that! I've never!"

_Whack!_

"Ever!"

_Wham!_

"Been your sweetheart!"

_Crack! _

The broom handle snapped in half. Kanna stared at the broken piece of wood in her hand as if it were a strange foreign object and looked at Edka sitting crouched on the ground, sending pleading eyes up at her. She scowled.

"You fucking idiot broke my broom!"

Just as Kanna was about to bring her piece of the broken broom handle down on Edka, Rori skipped into the fray.

"Hi Kanna! I'm home!"

Kanna stopped her assault on Edka, threw the broken handle over her shoulder casually and greeted the girl as if the scene from before never happened.

"Oh hey Rori, where've you been?"

_'Wait what just happened?'_ Zuko blinked at the strange scene. Rori was happily telling Kanna about spending the night at a friend's house, while Edka was slowly pushing himself off of the ground dusting off his pants and rubbing one shoulder. Zuko shook his head. This unusual day was just getting stranger and stranger.

"So, I hear you're broken," Kanna broke him out of his reverie, settling her deep blue eyes on him.

"Yeah, now I think I've been waiting long enough. Heal me right and money won't be a problem," he stated plainly. He'd been dragged through who knows what while he'd been unconscious, traveled a long way by a bumpy and rickety carriage and tormented by a little chatterbox that couldn't shut up even for two seconds. He was at least going to get treated with some respect from the healer.

He gulped when Kanna's calm, professional expression twisted into a deep furious scowl that sent a shiver of fear down his spine. The woman's fists clenched as if she were debating the merits of punching him in the face. Rori seemed to notice and stepped up to Kanna's side.

"He's already injured. You're the one whose gotta heal him, don't make it worse," she whispered in her ear. To Zuko's great relief, Kanna sighed and relinquished the hold she had on him with her glare and relaxed her clenched fists.

"Fine. If Rori escorted you here, I'm just going to assume you know everything about me," she shot a glance a Rori who laughed and grinned sheepishly before returning her ice-blue eyes back on Zuko, "C'mon in, brat," and with that she retreated back into her home. Rori smiled warmly and motioned Iroh and Zuko to make their way inside. The door slammed shut in Edka's face before he could enter.

The inside of the house was, in a word, messy. There were stains everywhere, on the floor and on the table and they looked horribly like blood stains. Dishes were stacked up in a corner of what looked to be the kitchen area while low-hanging tools of both medical and practical uses, dried plants and herbs hung from the ceiling in a haphazard fashion. Several shelves ran along the wall filled with medical scrolls and books and another was overflowing with colorful jars and bottles packed with different colored pastes, powders and liquids.

Kanna disappeared behind a heavy curtain that Zuko assumed must be her bedroom. She emerged quickly, hair-tie in her mouth as she pulled her stubborn strands away from her face and into a messy bun on the back of her head.

"Table. Now," she mumbled past the hair tie, rummaging through a chest hiding under the table and pulled out a white apron. It was covered in the same rust-colored stains that matched the stains on the table and floor. Zuko gulped and with his Uncle's help, lowered himself carefully onto the 'operating table'.

As soon as he was down, Kanna started poking and prodding all over his body. He bit back a scream when she poked his broken limbs and glared at her with all his might. She glared right back and continued her assessment.

Rori looked around at the state of the house and began bustling about, started washing the dishes, wiping down the counters and trying the scrub the stubborn stains from the floor.

"Hey Kanna? Why's there so much blood in here? Did someone die?"

Zuko felt his stomach drop at that. The stains he was currently lying on were someone's blood. Then a second horrifying thought went flying through his head without permission, reason or sense. Kanna had let someone die on this very table! What if she wasn't the best healer Edka had bragged about, let alone a decent one? He was so caught up in his inner down-ward spiral of negative thoughts he almost missed the healer's answer.

"Oh yeah, you were at a friend's house last night! Norman's wife finally went into labor late last night. They brought her in right as her contractions started. Damn fool fainted at the first sign of the blood and had to be carried out."

Zuko felt at ease when he found out it wasn't from a man who she couldn't heal. But then realization settled in. A woman had given birth on this table, with all her fluids and- Zuko fought the urge to lean over the side and hurl out whatever resided in his stomach. He was sitting on the stains created from a woman giving birth. He promptly gagged.

Kanna finished her poking and prodding and rummaged through the chest again, bringing out several rolls of bandages and straight, carved sticks.

"Rori, bring me the Torpens paste and the-" she stopped at the dumb smile on Rori's face and shook her head before correcting herself, "Light green paste in a dark mahogany bowl and the pale blue powder in a tall, clear glass bottle. The one with an eagle-dove stopper."

Rori came around Kanna and handed her the things she'd asked for. Iroh sat nearby on a chair Rori had given him and stared as the healer set to work on the man's leg first, rubbing the green paste on the limb. Zuko started, clenching his teeth as Kanna rubbed in the paste and before long it became a dull throb. He sighed happily.

"What is that?" Iroh asked, pointing to the dark bowl in her hands. She continued working as she answered.

"It's a numbing paste I made last night. Rubbed in like this," she motioned to Zuko's leg which was dyed a slight, sickly green from the medicine, "It numbs the nerve endings while I work. Hell, I could even amputate this baby and he wouldn't even know it!" she patted the leg not so gently, grinning evilly. The patting both surprised and shocked Zuko. It was true; he could not feel anything past his knee. The two men looked up at her confused. Amputate? They didn't speak 'healer' but apparently Rori knew just enough.

"It's when she has to cut it off," her statement promptly raised a commotion as both Zuko and Iroh began protesting the need. His leg was only broken, there was no need to cut it off! Kanna laughed waving her free hand in the air, admitting she would never do that unless he had a cut infected with something as dangerous as Gangrene. And that no, Lee did not have Gangrene.

After they'd calmed down, Iroh asked what the light blue powder was for.

"Basically it's an Anti-Itching powder. Keeps the patient from scratching at a healing wound making it worse or infected," she sprinkled some of the powder on Zuko's leg and ordered Rori to hold the wooden splint down as she wrapped it tightly. She repeated the process with Zuko's arm, smacking him upside the head when he cursed at her for holding his arm too tightly.


	3. Chapter 3

**I am so sorry I haven't updated in so long. I have exams coming up and all my teachers thought it'd be a ****_wonderful _****idea to swamp me with as much work as they possible can. And on top of that (as if things couldn't get any worse than it already is) I have currently been undergoing a near-fatal case of Writer's Block! Whatever I write is crap, crap, CRAP! And I ****_refuse_**** to sacrifice the quality of my chapters simply because I feel like updating my stories. Anyway, I managed to get a good chapter up for you now so hopefully you will accept my oh-so-humble peace offering.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar the Last Airbender in any way, shape or form.**

**Enjoy!**

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"Sho there you have it! Besht healer in da four nations! Am I right or am I wight?" Edka's booming voice, laced with what could only be alcohol, echoed through the inn Iroh and Zuko were staying at. Normally patients would stay at the healer's until they were fully okay'd by the healer, but Kanna didn't have more than her and Rori's bed in her house, which she would absolutely _not_, _never_ or _ever_, give to Zuko no matter how much he may have needed it. Not that it would have mattered anyway because Kanna hated people. She hated them coming into her house and messing things up, she hated talking to them, she hated dealing with them and most of all, she absolutely _loathed_ people who came in and told her how do her job.

The village had witnessed one such event when a high-born waterbending healer from the Northern Water Tribe came to observe Kanna do her work. He had deemed her incompetent and tried telling her the proper way to heal a severe cut of the upper arm, (two youngsters working in the fields were having a pretend sword fight with their hoes when one of the tool's head fell off and cut deep into the upper shoulder of the younger boy.) Kanna had kicked the healer out of her house, yelling and screaming obscenities that had mothers covering their children's ears. Of the many, _many_ insults she'd used, 'Unworthy, snot-nosed, slug-eating excuse of a man that still suckled at his mother's breast' was by far the kindest. She had then continued kicking the high-born prick straight out of the village before storming back to her house, slamming the door so hard it almost fell off its hinges. Apparently she'd had to contact the village carpenter to fix her door the day after. Needless to say, she had not been happy to have a stranger in her home.

But it seemed that young Rori was the exception to Kanna's hatred of people. No one quite new why but Kanna tolerated the young, constantly chatting girl to talk to her, walk within a meter of her, hug her, laugh with and at her, all without the constant scowl she usually had when surrounded by people. Rori usually just ended up cleaning the house while Kanna slept but still, it was more positive interaction than the rest of the village got. They had high hopes that Rori would soften the stone-cold heart of the healer so maybe she would open up to the rest of them as well.

Although her hatred for people was strong, the woman never turned the sick or the injured away. She would grumble and complain the whole while but the villagers never seemed to mind. If you came to her with something as minor as a toothache to something as severe as a gaping wound in your side, she would see you, heal you, and then scream at you to never come back after kicking you out.

"Me thinks," Edka burped, swinging his mug of beer around wildly, "Thas just how she shows her affecshion!"

Edka, Iroh and Zuko were currently sitting at a table in his family's inn. One of the neighbors, a genius in his own right, had hammered a pair of make-shift wheels onto a sturdy chair so Iroh could move his nephew around without causing the young man terrible pain. Zuko was drinking water, the only thing Kanna allowed her patients unless otherwise noted. After she'd kicked them out of her house with the orders 'Drink that with water!' Rori came rushing after them and further explained how to consume the powdered medicine. Kanna had given them two small paper packets with the white powder folded up neatly inside each.

"Mix one packet with a glass of water at night before bed and then again with the other in the morning. It'll keep the pain at bay till she sees you again tomorrow. You're so lucky she gave you this! You'll be better in no time at all! Oh, I remember this one time-" And Rori was off on one of her endless, extremely one-sided banter sessions.

Edka had then wheeled Zuko off to set up a room for the night.

So here he was, drinking his medicine, watching a drunk Edka sob onto his uncle's shoulder, weeping about how Kanna didn't love him.

"I-I-I mean I-I don't know what I'm doin' wrong!" he bawled, "I do e-everything f-fer her! And what d'I get? A big, s-stinkin' nuthin'!"

_'Yup,'_ Zuko thought as he sipped his water, _'Definitely drunk.'_

Iroh was patting him on the back, trying to comfort the man. He'd known this kind of heartbreak long ago and it pained him to see another man, so young and full of life, go through that.

"You know Edka; I was once in the same predicament as you are now," the older man said. Edka looked up, wiping the snot from his nose pathetically. Zuko wanted to roll his eyes but sipped at his water instead. A man in love was a sad sight indeed.

"R-really?" he sniffed weakly. Iroh smiled sadly.

"Yes I have. I remember her well. Hair as black as a raven's wing, full berry-wine lips and eyes that stared into the depths of your soul," he stared into his own drink sadly, wistfully, almost longingly, "She never saw how much I loved her back then. She was the wilderness in the flesh, as wild and care-free as the Fire-Hawk and just as deadly."

Edka gaped, enthralled in Iroh's story. The old man had a knack for story-telling and his deep voice mimicked his words, making his listeners _feel_ what he was feeling, be it sadness of unimaginable depths, joy to highest peaks of the highest mountains or a feeling so empty there were no words to describe the pure nothingness that could fill one's heart. A rare talent indeed, it was a surprise Iroh didn't become a wandering poet or minstrel, sharing his life of love, loss and adventure through his stories and songs. The only one immune to this talent was Zuko it seemed. Whenever Iroh tried passing on his wisdom to his nephew in the form of riddles or anecdotes meant to make him think, the young man would blow it off as some 'crack-pot non-sense' that Iroh made up on the spot to make the Zuko feel stupid.

"What did you do?" Edka breathed, waiting for the answers Iroh would bestow upon him like food to a starved man. Iroh smiled again, sadly and in longing. By now, even Zuko was listening in. He'd never seen his uncle this sad for this long. And this time he was sure he wasn't the cause of that expression.

"I waited patiently for her to notice me, striking up conversations at every chance and even sent her gifts to show her how much I cared. I gave her everything and received nothing in return. Then one day I found her standing by the pond she'd always feed the turtle-ducks at. She was as gorgeous as the first time I set my eyes on her. She was arguing with a man I recognized who worked at the stables. He was so angry with my dear fire lily, he was red in the face and spitting out the harshest words I've ever heard spoken to a woman."

'_My dear fire lily._'

Zuko felt his stomach drop. '_My dear fire lily_' was something he'd only ever called his wife, Zuko's aunt before she mysteriously died. He listened in, the stone in his heart growing heavier and heaver with each spoken word. He'd never known his aunt was the wild spirit Iroh described. The woman he'd known was kind-hearted, almost to a fault, and had loved Iroh and their son, Lu Ten with all her heart. Iroh continued his story.

"Just as he raised his hand to strike her I stepped in and took the hit for her. His hand struck me across my cheek before he could comprehend his unknown victim. I could see the recognition flicker in his eyes as he threw himself to the ground, begging for forgiveness. I told him that if there was anyone he should be begging for forgiveness, it was the lady behind me whom he originally intended to strike down like she was beneath him. My dear fire lily stepped out from behind me and shoved the man in the pond, demanding that he parade through the streets in nothing but his loincloth, announcing out loud to the world that he was a woman beater or else," Iroh chuckled at the memory. Zuko struggled to keep his jaw from hanging open. _That_ had been his aunt? He'd heard the stories of a man seen doing just that ages ago but he never would have thought that it had been his sweet-tempered aunt's idea.

"After the fool ran like the coward he was, my fire lily turned to me and thanked me fore protecting her, even though she clearly could have taken care of the spineless bloke herself. Then she asked me if I wanted to treat her to dinner at a place of her choosing. I didn't even mind that she chose the most expensive restaurant in the whole town. After a while we began going steady until one day she pulled me aside, struck me across the cheek and demanded to know how I could be so darn cute and confessed her love to me then and there. And the rest is history," he smiled happily, despite the single stray tear that trailed down his face.

Zuko's heart wrenched for his uncle. He had loved and lost so much. Edka must have thought something along the same lines because he had started a brand new set of tears that gushed from his eyes like twin waterfalls.

"Th-that's such a b-beautiful s-story!" the man practically howled, burying his head in Iroh's shoulder before slumping to the table in a deep, alcohol-induced sleep. Iroh chuckled and called on a waiter, Edka's father, to help his son up the stairs. Edka's dad apologized profusely for his son's behavior saying that the poor lad had been in love with the healer ever since she first came to the village a year or so ago. And she never treated the man as more of an errand boy or maybe a punching bag when she was in a _really_ bad mood. Iroh merely laughed and agreed that while Kanna's behavior was a little….over the top, she was still quite a fetching creature.

By the time Iroh returned to the table, Zuko was deep in conversation with a young woman in a…questionable choice of clothes. Slightly busty, deep chocolate tresses made up in a half-up half-down curly hair-do, with pouty heart-shaped lips, this woman screamed sinful pleasure. But apparently that was not the topic of the conversation. Far from it in fact, as Iroh neared he heard snippets of the conversation the two were having.

"-Yeah of course she could heal your scar. Have you seen the one poor Rori's got? When she first came here, that scar took up most of the side of her face and a good part of her neck. Kanna's been working on it ever since she first saw it, workin' all night during the full moon or whenever she's got nuthin' else to work on," the woman sighed dramatically, resting her head on her hand, sipping her tea. Zuko frowned thinking back to Rori's scar. From her jaw line to the top of her left cheek, the scar was about the size of Zuko's palm. Had it really been bigger before? Did Kanna have the power to rid Zuko of his scar? A sudden thought crossed his line of thinking, the answer hidden, dancing like a shadow on the edge of the darkness.

"Why on the full moon?"

The woman blinked before bursting out laughing. Zuko scowled and would have crossed his arms if one of them wasn't currently broken. He settled with huffing angrily and glaring at the brown-haired beauty. She took in his expression and tried to stifle her laughter and failed wonderfully.

"Oh, I'm sorry, darling. It's nothing you did. I shouldn't be surprised at what Kanna does by now," she stopped laughing and eyed Zuko seriously, "The thing is, Kanna's a waterbender and a damn powerful one at that. Best in the healing arts is what I've heard," she explained, watching in delight as realization dawned on him.

Kanna was a waterbender. Kanna was a powerful waterbending healer who worked miracles on the full moon. She could rid Zuko of the 'gift' his father had bestowed upon him all those years ago and return as a whole person, the Prince of the Fire Nation. His right to the throne would be restored and he would become Fire Lord and he would make his father proud.

"A-are you sure? She can get rid of it?" Zuko didn't even mind the stutter as he asked the question. He was too exited at the thought of having his old face back, not marred, not scarred, just normal, smooth flesh. He vaguely noticed his good hand drift up to his scar, feeling the strange, lumpy flesh that resided there. That could go away! The woman smiled and gently pulled his hand away from his face and held it.

"Yes she can," she whispered softly, dropped his hand and left him alone at the table. He continued to stare after her, lifted his hand and felt his scar again. It could go away!

He heard light chuckling behind and turned in his seat to come face-to-face with his uncle. The old man smiled mischievously.

"Making some new lady friends Zuko? While that's all good, I highly suggest waiting until you're fully healed." The old man winked playfully.

The innuendo was not lost on Zuko as his cheeks flamed a vibrant red.

"Uncle!"

The man laughed loudly clutching his big round belly. Zuko could still feel the burn on his cheeks and willed them away as soon as possible before anyone saw. Iroh wiped away a tear and laid a hand on Zuko's good shoulder.

"Why don't we head to bed. We'll go see Kanna about the extra healing sessions tomorrow alright?"

Zuko wasn't even going to ask how his uncle had picked up on that part of the conversation but didn't bother asking him. He knew he'd probably just get an answer he didn't want to hear.

"Sure," he shrugged nonchalantly with his good shoulder, "I'm getting tired anyway."

Iroh chuckled again and smiled down at his beloved nephew as he steered the wheeled contraption towards their room.

"That's probably just the medicine."

Zuko awoke the next morning to the sun rising in the distance. He couldn't help it, he was a firebender and his element, the sun, called to him somewhere deep in his gut when it rose in the sky. It was a calling he could not refuse even if sleeping in sounded like the most wonderful thing in the world right now.

_'Firebenders rise with the sun, huh?'_ Zuko grumbled to himself and he rubbed his eyes with his good hand and yawned.

"Ah Zuko, you are awake," Iroh called from across the room. Iroh was already stretching and humming something about it being a beautiful day, looking _way_ too lively this early in the morning. Zuko wondered if the pull got weaker after the years or if he'd just get used to it. He had a feeling that if Iroh ever lost his firebending and no longer needed to heed the call of the sun, the old man would still rise at these un-godly hours of the morning out of sheer habit. Zuko quickly scoffed at the mere _idea_ of loosing one's bending. It just simply wasn't possible.

Zuko grumbled heatedly as his uncle helped him out of bed and into the strange wheeled chair that had been made for him yesterday. Together they made their way out of their room to the kitchen area of the inn. Edka was already slumped over the counter holding an ice-pack to his head, most likely nursing a pounding hangover.

He smiled weakly at the approaching men and winced, laying his throbbing head on the cool counter. His mother came by and gave him a glass of water. She asked them what they'd like to eat and they ordered the house special, a thick slice of roasted meat with a side of eggs, bacon and sweet, fluffy bread-like disc that the lady called 'pancakes'.

Zuko found himself highly enjoying the sweet bread–pancake, he corrected himself and asked for more. The lady behind the counter laughed and rushed back into the kitchen to make another batch. Edka smiled, watching his mother rush around happily, taking orders and serving the people who were just waking up and making their way to the dining area.

"I think she was meant for this kind of work," his eyes softened as his mother began chatting cheerfully with one of the customers, before turning to Zuko who was busy trying to cut up his meat so he didn't look like a starved shirshu.

"So I've heard you're goin' to Kanna's today to ask for some extra healing on a certain scar?" he asked, glancing warily at Zuko who'd stopped trying to cut his meat. His uncle gently slid the plate towards himself and began cutting up the meat for his nephew. Zuko didn't explode or fight about being babied, instead thinking about how good it would feel to have his old face back.

"Yeah," Zuko murmured, lost in thought. He took the powdered medicine out of his pocket and asked the lady behind the counter for a glass of water to take it with.

"Well if I were you, I'd wait a couple hours before heading over there. Kanna's a lady who…prefers…to sleep in," Edka sighed dreamily, most likely gone to a magical place where Kanna could actually stand the man. Zuko ignored the man beside him and pulled his plate of now bite-sized chunks of meat towards him and dug in.

After about an hour and a half of finishing his breakfast, his medicine-laced water and talking Edka out of his self-induced dream-land, the scarred and broken boy demanded to be wheeled to Kanna's house for healing on the double. And not the traditional healing mumbo-jumbo with splints, salves and potions. Kanna was going to heal him with her waterbending as soon as physically possible. A laughing Iroh and Edka complied with Zuko's wishes and wheeled the impatient young man to the healer's house.

When they arrived at the healer's house, they found Rori outside sweeping the front porch and cleaning up things from the previous night. Kanna was nowhere to be seen.

"Hiya!" Rori chirped, setting her broom (Edka had replaced the one 'he' broke) to the side and skipping up to them, "Are you here to see Kanna? Are you gonna see her 'bout your scar?" she began happily, taking the wheeled chair from Iroh and pushing Zuko up to the house, chatting up a storm. Iroh smiled as Zuko began arguing with the girl about taking a break from talking for _once_ in her short life. Rori invited them all into the main room, asking them if they'd like any tea or food while they waited. The table Zuko had laid on yesterday was now- thankfully- scrubbed clean of the blood. Rori apparently had been up and about since sun-up, cleaning and working on Kanna's house, making it into a more habitable place for the owner and her patients. The floor had been cleared of obstacles and swept, rugs had been dusted and dishes washed. While Iroh admired the new appearance of Kanna's home (it was almost as if a woman actually lived here, he remarked), Zuko demanded the whereabouts of the healer.

"She's still sleeping at the moment," Rori stated happily as she served Iroh and Edka some pastries she'd bought from the baker that morning. The house's food supply needed to be restocked and Rori would be doing that later that day.

"She's still sleeping in at this hour?" Zuko asked offended at the healer's behavior.

_'Kanna's a lady who…prefers…to sleep in,'_ Edka's voice rang in Zuko's head but he pushed it aside.

"Go get her then!" he commanded the earthbender who looked at him with laughing eyes.

"Ok but it's your head," she chirped and bounced away to the thick curtain hiding Kanna's room from sight.

Zuko, Iroh and Edka sat in the living room and adjoined kitchen waiting for the earthbender to return with the healer. They could hear mumbled complaints and Rori urging the sleepy healer from her bed.

"Lee and Mushi are here. Oh, and Edka too."

At the mere mention of Edka, the grouching grew louder and Zuko thought he caught something like _'that dammed Ed couldn't find water if he fell out of a fuckin' canoe.'_ Zuko bit back a laugh.

After a few minutes Rori came stumbling out of Kanna's room, followed by the healer herself. She looked the same as yesterday, except her hair seemed determined to defy gravity, sticking out worse than it did yesterday. Kanna yawned, rubbing her eyes and grabbing the mug of steamy coffee handed to her by Rori who darted about preparing the woman's breakfast while humming something to herself. The woman-healer plopped down gracelessly on the cushiony couch and nursed her drink. She sat there silently, not even looking at the men occupying her house. Zuko vaguely wondered if she'd even acknowledged their presence at all. Minutes passed before Zuko broke the uncomfortable silence.

"I hear you're a waterbender," he stated simply. He was never one to dance around a subject and this was important to him. Kanna glanced at him through one eye, the cold, icy depths of it gluing him to his wheeled chair. She sighed and put her coffee down, rubbing her eyes again.

"Who told you?" she asked, maybe a little more irritated than needed. Zuko ignored her question but saw her blue eyes flick over towards Edka accusingly. The man raised his mug of coffee in a silent happy greeting, ignoring the way the healer glared at him.

"Could you heal my…scar?"

Even though he'd been told she was a powerful, waterbending healer who was currently working on Rori's scar; he was unsure. Why he was unsure, he didn't know. Maybe it was because he'd had this scar for so long, been ridiculed because of it for so long, been rejected by everyone because of it; but maybe over time, it had become a part of who he was.

Kanna stared at him with obvious disinterest, probably sizing him up. She sighed and leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees.

"Can I heal your scar? Yes, most likely," she stated plainly, as if commenting on the weather instead of the horrible scar on Zuko's face.

Zuko's heart jumped in his chest. It could happen! He could get rid of it for good!

"Thank you, thank you so much," Zuko bowed his head in respect and gratitude.

"Hold it, boy! Who said I was gonna do it?" Kanna stood, staring down at the broken man before her in disdain. Zuko's head shot up and the woman reached forward grabbing his face between her cool hands. Zuko stared up at her, his eyes flicking back and forth between hers as she inspected the scar. Her eyes were so blue and cold it was like looking into the arctic waters of the Water Tribes' home. Her hands were cool to the touch and Zuko figured it had to do something with being a waterbender. He vaguely remembered the waterbender accompanying the Avatar, Katara was her name if he remembered correctly, was the same way that one time he had tied her to a tree.

"This was never properly taken care of. You're lucky you still have your eye," Kanna's voice brought him out of his reverie, "You didn't see a healer about this 'til the last minute, did you?" Kanna's ice-blue eyes locked with his. He shook his head and Kanna scoffed.

"And the villagers wonder why I hate people," she grumbled under her breath as she continued observing the scar, "Rori! Water, now!" she barked the order and the girl rushed into the kitchen for a basin. Iroh helped the girl carry the heavy basin full of water toward the grumbling healer who was still going on about the pure stupidity of other people.

Zuko and Iroh watched in fascination as Kanna made a glove out of the water and brought it up to his scar. Edka and Rori went about their business as usual; they had seen this countless times. The water felt wonderfully cool against his skin and Zuko fought the urge to lean into it. Kanna closed her eyes, took a deep breath and soon the water began to glow a bright blue.

"The nerve endings are fried, and the damage goes way beyond the _epidermis layer,_" Kanna pushed the water back into the basin and splashed some water in her face, washing the sleep out of her eyes and smoothing some of the more reluctant hair down and out of her face. Zuko stared at her, waiting for whatever 'epidermis' meant. Kanna caught his gaze and grinned evilly. Zuko flinched. He didn't know Kanna that well but from he'd witnessed, that smile could not mean anything good. For him anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello there dear readers! I love you, please don't hurt me.

Unfortunately this is not a story update so I'm sorry for crushing your hopes and dreams.

I am so, so, so, so sorry that I haven't updated in like forever but my husband (my beloved computer) was violently hacked by some dumbfuck and is currently not working. I can't even make it past the Windows loading screen before it kills itself. I am so pissed! Trust me when I say that when I find the hacker responsible, I will stab him in the eye with a fucking fork! I am that pissed! My hard drive isn't working and while there is a high chance that all my files will be recoverable (cross your fingers!) I will not be able to work on any of my stories for now. I am having someone come over this weekend to fix up my husband but until then, my beloved computer is in a coma. On top of that, studying for my upcoming finals without a computer is also proving to be rather difficult but I'm managing.

Anyway, I hope to have another long chapter up and running next week but don't get your hopes up too high. I still have finals to study for and unfortunately, those have my first priority.

~White Wolf Writers~


	5. Chapter 5

Hey, White Wolf Writers here,

Unfortunately this is not an update as much as I wish it was. My computer's status has not changed and there have been some serious problems in recovering my files. But the people who are helping me are convinced that it is not a lost cause and that (eventually) they will be able to resurrect my computer and my files along with it. But unfirtunately doing something that like will require money and as soon as I am more financially stable, that will be the first thing I do.

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience and thank those who are still willing to follow me from the bottom of my butt. (I'd say heart but my butt's bigger.)


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